Three other Honda drivers made it to the semi-final round of IndyCar roadcourse “knockout” qualifying at Sonoma, led by Alex Tagliani, who will start eighth in his Barracuda/Bryan Herta Autosport Honda Dallara. Qualifying just behind Tagliani was Simon Pagenaud, who is en route to clinching series Rookie of the Year honors with Schmidt Hamilton Racing, and Dale Coyne Racing’s Justin Wilson, 10th.

Sunday’s 85-lap race around a recently-revised 2.31-mile road course starts at 4 p.m. EDT, with live television coverage on the NBC Sports Network.

Scott Dixon (#9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) qualified 5th:

“It was definitely tough [qualifying] today. I nearly got knocked out of the first qualifying round, when I came up on traffic on my last lap and he went off in front of me! The car has good balance, but we’re missing a little bit somewhere, so we’ve got a bit of work to do tonight. The wind changed direction between the morning [practice] and qualifying [in the afternoon], and that seemed to affect us more than some of the others. In such a close field, it’s just the smallest things that can make a difference.”